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Read the press release here.

Uptown Charter School Seeks to Expand Elementary Grades

By Lindsay Armstrong | December 11, 2014 11:26am
 The Equity Project Charter School wants to add pre-K through 4th grade to its current middle school.
Uptown Charter School Seeks to Expand to Elementary Grades
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FORT GEORGE — An Uptown charter middle school that is known for paying its teachers $125,000 a year is hoping to added more elementary grades under a multimillion-dollar expansion plan that will more than double its student body.

The Equity Project Charter School, at 549 Audubon Ave., currently serves 480 students in the fifth through eighth grades. School officials hope to expand to include pre-K through fourth-grade classes beginning in the 2016-17 school year, in addition to building a brand new school facility nearby. 

The expansion would increase the school’s enrollment to about 1,200 students, according to minutes from a recent school board meeting.

The charter, which opened in 2009, focuses on hiring and developing master teachers by offering them a strong professional development program, higher compensation and the opportunity to take a learning-focused sabbatical every five years, according to its website.

In addition to core subjects, the school offers instrumental music instruction and after-school activities including chess and photography. Each grade also has a social worker that follows students as they advance through the grades, according to Inside Schools.

The school is currently housed in a cluster of trailers on the campus of George Washington High School. The charter has already purchased a site on Sherman Avenue near Academy Street for its new building, according to documents filed with the DOE.

The school is currently working with developer West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing to build a 62,000-square-foot facility at the site. To date, the school has raised $9.5 million of its $12 million goal toward the project, according to the website.

TEP, which is authorized through the New York City Department of Education, presented its plan at a public hearing Tuesday.

The expansion plan must be approved by the Department of Education and the state’s Board of Regents. 

The school’s principal, Zeke Vanderhoek, did not respond to a request for comment.